Yesterday, Yahoo released a beta version of their companion toolbar designed specifically for the Firefox browser.
This, like most things Firefox, was done with much publicity and in some cases, gratitude. And because of the immediacy of the Internet and other forms of modern communication, reaction was swift.
Not willing to sit this one out, the blogosphere also reacted with its usually zeal. A quick search of Technorati and PubSub reveals just how many and what kind reactions bloggers had. The following is a cross-section of the different types of reactions everyday users.
Yahoo has made the move to further embrace Firefox. So, now Firefox has
a customized toolbar on both Google and Yahoo, the two biggest search engines in the world.
Of course there will never be a Firefox tool bar from MSN as that would be supporting the competition. Go Yahoo. Go Google. Go Firefox.
Paul’s Blog of Tech and Nonsense
Yahoo for FireFox
Yahoo appears to have gotten on the bandwagon of the growing use of Mozilla’s FireFox open source browser. Today, Yahoo has released a beta version of its toolbar for Firefox, known as the “Yahoo Toolbar for Firefox”
The toolbar looks much like its Internet Explorer counterpart, only lacking Yahoo’s Anti-Spy feature and support for International Yahoo IDs. The other important thing to note is that it is only currently available for the Windows platform; even though FireFox runs on other operating systems such as Mac OS-X and Linux.
Side Note: most of the reactions from the bloggers dealt with the actual release. However, many of the blog’s comments sections had more of a commentary approach. Some bloggers brought up the unnecessary clutter the Yahoo companion can cause.
From his comments: “By the way, this toolbar is fairly uninspiring. Plus, between Firefox’s horizontal bookmarks and tabbing functionality, it pushes the content down even further. I would give it a grade of C+.”
Infinite Comments: A group weblog
To quote our son Enko: “Who would want that? The whole reason people get Firefox is to be rid of that [stuff].”
And in one case, as this author discovered, the Yahoo Toolbar led to a blogger wanting more from Google:
Google Toolbar for Firefox
I don’t know why it’s taking so long for Google to come up with a toolbar for Firefox. Yesterday Yahoo beta launched its toolbar for Firefox with almost every feature except the support for Anti-Spy. When I heard the rumor that Google is working closely with Mozilla foundation, I thought its time for new Google toolbar for Firefox.
But this time Yahoo beat the Google. As an SEO expert I really miss the PageRank indicator and Backward links checker that’s inbuilt in Google Toolbar while surfing on Firefox. Though PageRank and Google directory indicator plugins are available for Firefox but still they can’t satisfy me.
Besides the clutter issue, most Yahoo users have a need/want for the companion toolbar, but it seems that toolbars in general are experiencing a modicum of backlash. Was the toolbar craze just another fad?
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for murdok. Visit murdok for the latest search news.
